


An Imperial Pilot in the Rebellion

by dcrthkenobi (galakticfinn)



Series: An Imperial Pilot (In the Rebellion) [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Rogue One Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8979232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galakticfinn/pseuds/dcrthkenobi
Summary: Finn reads Poe's holobook recommendation: An Imperial Pilot in the Rebellion, by Bodhi Rook.Basically, the entire fic reads like an autobiography from Bodhi's point of view.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> prompt: Bodhi rook's life in the Empire vs. the Rebellion (I love this guy)
> 
> I don't usually write in first person (because I really dislike it) but this happened? I Couldn't get rid of the idea of Finn reading an autobiography that Bodhi wrote.

As one would think, life in the Rebel Alliance is vastly different than life as an Imperial pilot. The most notable difference would – in fact – be the lack of impending death. Not that there wasn’t a constant fear of annihilation with the Rebellion, because there was. We were facing off against the kriffing _Empire_. We were outnumbered, out gunned, and lacked supplies – so there was terror.

But no one fears their superiors. That’s the impending doom that I mean. With the Empire, there was the constant fear that if you messed up you would be “terminated.” It probably wasn’t as bad for me, since I wasn’t a Stormtrooper – Stormtroopers were considered even more expendable – but I was still expendable. I was just a cargo pilot. I wasn’t anyone special, so the threat of termination was still there.

Terminated – the Empire’s _nice_ way of saying executed.

I admit, I had culture shock when I arrived at the Rebellion Base for the first time. I was still wearing my Imperial Pilot jumpsuit and I was getting looks from people – obviously, people didn’t want to trust me. Maybe they thought I was a spy. I wouldn’t blame them for that, the Empire certainly wouldn’t be beyond doing something like that.

Luckily Cassian Andor was there. I wasn’t so sure at first if the Captain trusted me. His mission had been to find the Imperial defector and bring him back to the base – presumably alive (or else I would be dead). So maybe he still felt it was his duty to protect me. Cassian would just look at the Rebels that were giving me a hard time – not even a glare, just a look – and they would scatter.

My first taste of Rebels had been the ones on Jedha, but they were extremists. Their cause was just, but since leaving the Empire I’ve learned that the ends don’t always justify the means. If you stoop to the level of your enemies are you really that much better than them? The Empire tortures people and these Extremists tortured me. I don’t remember exactly what happened on Jedha after that.

It wasn’t until Scarif that I truly learned the difference between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire. The word “extraction” doesn’t exist in the Empire. If you’re sent on a mission and it goes wrong, you’re on your own. The Empire doesn’t care. You’re expendable. They’ll just keep sending people until the mission goes right for someone.

On some level I knew that the Rebellion was better than the Empire, but when I volunteered to follow Cassian and Jyn Erso to Scarif I didn’t expect to come back. I think the others did, but I knew what the Empire was like. I had been to Scarif before, I knew the planetary defenses. The five of us, K-2SO, and a handful of other Rebels weren’t even going to _dent_ the Scarif defenses.

But it was the right thing to do, so I went. I piloted the stolen Imperial cargo shuttle and I bluffed our way onto the planet.

I was scared – terrified. I had known fear when I was with the Empire, but cargo pilots were so rarely in combat. And never had I found myself targeted by Imperial blasters. I had seen Death Troopers before, but never was I on the opposite side of them.

I was terrified, but I kept my head clear. I had to get in contact with the Rebel Fleet. Getting the plans to the Rebellion was important – even more important than my expendable life. Then finally… _finally_ , I was able to contact the Fleet.

When I saw the grenade, part of me wanted to stay and let that be the end. But something stopped me, maybe it was The Force – I don’t know – but I grabbed my blaster and dove out of the shuttle. I heard the explosion and it threw me across the landing pad. I was dazed and in excruciating pain, but I was miraculously alive.

I laid still as the Death Troopers and Stormtroopers left the landing pad. They thought I was dead and I wasn’t going to draw attention to myself by waving my blaster around, so I kept still and quiet until they had all moved on.

When I saw the twin Star Destroyers falling, and the planet wide shield deactivate, I had hope again. Not hope for myself. They wouldn’t come back for the people on the ground, it was just logic – we’re expendable – but I knew that they had gotten the plans.

Then it came. The Death Star, I saw it in the sky and I knew this would be the end. I had just closed my eyes, trying to accept my inevitable death, when I heard it – the unmistakable sound of a U-Wing. I’d gotten used to the sound of a U-Wing on the way to Eadu, so I knew the sound.

I didn’t have the energy to open my eyes again, or even move, but I felt myself being picked up and carried onboard. Just before I lost consciousness I remember thinking to myself over, “They came for me. They saved me. They didn’t abandon me.”

_I’m not expendable._

That was the hardest concept for me to wrap my mind around after I had woken up. I asked Cassian why we were saved, he just said, “Because we’re people. We don’t abandon each other.”

“But pilots and ground troops are expendable.” I said in confusion. That’s what we’re taught in the Empire.

Cassian just smiled sadly and patted my shoulder. “That’s not how it works around here. Nobody is expendable.”

I let that sink in. It wasn’t right away. It took me weeks, months – maybe even a year – to understand that I mattered. The Rebellion values life. When I finally believed that, that’s when I realized that this is something I could do with my life. I could fight those that belittled me, I could stop them from their Tyranny. It didn’t matter who or what I was in the past. My past is part of who I am, but I won’t let it control me.

I could stop being an Imperial Cargo Pilot and become a Rebellion X-Wing Pilot.

So that’s what I did.

**

Finn put down the holobook. He understood why Poe had recommended this autobiography to him. Finn had never had a hero before – that would have been considered deviant behavior and cause for reconditioning. But having only read the introduction, Finn already knows he’s found his hero.

Bodhi Rook, Imperial Defector is Finn’s hero.


End file.
